1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a home network apparatus and system for cooperative work service and method thereof. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a home network device and system for cooperative work service and method thereof, which allow a number of home network devices having the same services to consistently provide these services through a process of cooperative work service on a home network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, there has been proposed a home network in such a manner that a common virtual computing environment called middleware is established in a variety of home network devices present in an Internet Protocol (“IP”)-based private network and applications are provided in the computing environment according to services that can be provided through the respective home network devices.
The middleware allows a variety of digital devices to be connected to one another in a peer-to-peer fashion and to communicate with one another. Currently available middleware includes Home AV Interoperability (HAVI), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Java Intelligent Network Infra-structure (Jini), LonWorks, and the like.
In a computing environment established through UPnP middleware, each of the devices uses an address that is assigned by a server through dynamic host configuration protocol (hereinafter, referred to as “DHCP”) or selected by an auto IP function. Each of the devices communicates therebetween and performs the discovery/inquiry process on the network by using its assigned address.
Therefore, the respective devices present in the home network are discovered through protocol such as sampling stochastic dynamic programming (hereinafter, referred to as “SSDP”), and a control device that is called through a simple object access protocol (hereinafter, referred to as “SOAP”) is used in order to control the operation of the discovered device.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a related art control structure among devices.
As shown in the figure, the control structure includes a control point 9 (hereinafter, referred to as “control device”) connected to the IP-based home network for controlling the home network devices operating on the network, and a plurality of home network devices 3, 5 and 7 (hereinafter, referred to as “controlled devices”) for providing their own specific services onto the home network in response to a control command transmitted from the control device 9.
A service 1 (hereinafter, referred to as “service platform”) exists in each of the controlled devices 3, 5 and 7 and processes a control command from the control device 9. The service platform 1 that exists in each of the controlled devices 3, 5 and 7 may be identical to one another depending on the definition of the services provided by each device.
That is, a plurality of service platforms 1 having the same service function can exist on a network.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a related art control process among devices.
As shown in the figure, when a controlled device 3 (hereinafter, referred to as a “first device”) newly connected to the network first starts to operate (S1), a predetermined address is assigned to the first device 3 using a technique such as DHCP, Auto IP, or the like (S2).
As the first device 3 to which a predetermined address has been assigned is added to the network in such a way, the discovery protocol, SSDP, informs the control device 9 and the other controlled devices 5 and 7 (hereinafter, referred to as “second and third devices”, respectively) of the service provided by the first device 3 (S3).
At this time, the first device 3 multicasts a search message informing the other devices of apparatuses and services held therein. Then, the control device 9 detects the newly added first device 3 through the multicast message and confirms a device description through the URL provided from the first device 3 in order to clearly catch hold of the function of the first device 3 (S4).
Further, in addition to the description step, a service step S5 is performed. The service step is comprised of service advertisement, control, description, discovery, event, and service management. In this service step, the service provided to the network is advertised through the contents of the device description of the respective devices, which is obtained in the description step. The control command is transmitted to a control URL of a relevant device, and thus, services requested by the control device 9 are provided. Changed device information to be transmitted from a relevant device in this process is received in the form of an event message and then processed. A service management process for performing the message transmission and reception and the device control according to the service step are also included.
The above processes are repeatedly performed until the service has been completed, and a release is transferred using the SSDP technique when the service has been completed.
In addition to the service step, the device description step continues while the respective devices are operated.
Finally, when the operation of the first device 3 is completed, information regarding service termination of the first device 3 is transferred to the control device 9 and the other controlled devices 5 and 7, which are present in the home network (S6).
As home network technologies have gradually developed, a number of devices having the same services may be included in the home network or cooperate with one another to provide a specific service. Nevertheless, there is no system for coordination among the plurality of the same services in current middleware service definitions for the home network.
Therefore, if there are a number of the network resources capable of providing a display service in a home network, the display service may be provided only by a predetermined specific device among a plurality of display devices in case of a related art home network environment. Further, it is difficult to easily set services provided by a plurality of cooperating devices, e.g. an authentication service for a user or device, a scheduling service for the resources (devices, services, network resources, etc.) in the home network, and the like.
This is because a process for coordinating the services among the service providing devices has not been performed. That is, the network resources of the services present in the home network are not efficiently used.
The foregoing may further have adverse influence on home network technology as technology continues to develop. Therefore, when there are a number of the same services or services provided by a plurality of cooperating devices in the home network since a variety of devices operate simultaneously on the home network, there is still a need for removing service inconsistency among the devices and sharing functions and roles with the service providing devices so that services can be consistently provided.